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Marvel Legends (Kree Sentry Wave): Captain Marvel by Hasbro

Captain Marvel Week Begins!!! Yes, I’ve decided to unleash a couple of Marvel Weeks in the next couple of months to work through my backlog of Legends figures, the first of which is starting today. I’m also pushing the new Captain Marvel wave to the head of the line, because it’s fun to be current and timely with my reviews every now and again, instead of being sad and way behind. I’m also going to give it my best to throw in the usual Mythic Legions Wednesday, but we’ll see how that goes. Let’s start with the soon-to-be newest star of the MCU… Carol Danvers!

I don’t usually have a lot to say about the packaging, but we actually have a few things worth mentioning here. First of all, the window is no longer part of the box, now it’s a top on the tray. Cool! Also, the back panel features some exceptionally beautiful and colorful character art from the upcoming film. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Brie Larson, but I’ve learned to stop questioning any MCU casting a long time ago, and I honestly think she’s going to be great in the role. If anything, the trailers have assuaged any of my apprehension about the future of the MCU after many characters from the old guard has been retired. Anyway… the figure comes packaged with her masked head, but I’ll start with the unmasked one.

Straight away, the first two things I love about this figure is the MCU suit design and the way Hasbro translated it to plastic 6-inches of plastic. The suit is colorful and features just enough sculpted line work to keep it from looking flat. While the MCU has been pretty good about drawing inspiration from comic looks, I’m still a little surprised that they played this one so close to the line. The snappy metallic red and blue deco makes the figure pop all on its own, but when you toss in the hints of gold trim, it elevates the the coloring even higher. Indeed, some of the gold work, like the edging on her lower legs, is extremely subtle, but it makes me appreciate it all the more on closer inspection. And the raised gold starburst on her chest looks fantastic!

The unmasked head utilizes all of Hasbro’s newly learned techniques to deliver a solid likeness of Larson. The skin tone is soft and matte to avoid a waxy look and the printing for the lips is sharp and subdued, but as always when you get in close, the printing starts to blur even though it looks fine in hand and with the naked eye. The expression is pretty flat and I’ve seen some criticisms of the trailer, saying that Larson doesn’t emote much, but here we get a hint of a smirk that I think works well for the character. Personally, I think people are getting a little too hung up on a few minutes of footage, but time will tell. Danvers’ hair is sculpted separately from the head, which adds some nice depth to the portrait overall and it’s given a dark sandy wash.

The masked head is also fantastic, and here’s where I really have to emphasize how surprised I am that the MCU version is playing it so close to the comic look. The mask covers everything but part of her lower face and includes pupil-less eyes and the mohawk of her hair jutting out the top. We get some more of that wonderful electric blue trim on the sides and while the paint could have been a tad sharper around the mask, it’s not really bad either. Finally, we get a little bit of a smirk on this portrait.

Articulation holds no surprises, but let’s break it down anyway. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, elbows, and wrists, with no swivels in the biceps. The legs have ball jointed hips, swivels in the thighs, double hinges in the knees, and hinges and lateral rockers in the ankles. The torso has a ball joint under the chest and the neck has both a hinge and ball joint. And yes, I’ll keep beating the dead horse of how I wish Hasbro would give the ladies double hinges in the elbows instead of rotating hinges. Captain Marvel also comes with two sets of hands: Fists and open hands, to alternate between fighting and flying. You may have also noticed from the packaged shot that she does not come with a BAF part. I’m guessing Hasbro figured everyone was going to want her anyway.

I’ve been waiting for this figure ever since we knew Carol was coming to the MCU and I have to say all that anticipation was paid off in spades. The outfit design is great and the colors are spectacular. And like any great movie-based action figure that’s released before the actual movie, this one is making me all the more excited to see the film. It’s also got me excited to open up some more of this wave, so I’ll be back tomorrow with another review!

Well it’s good to know that at least one of us has stopped questioning the casting of MCU. Or, wait, I mean I’ve never questioned it before, but I’m starting now with Brie Larson. Does that make sense? Uhm.